novatownhall blog

A quote often attributed to Japanese Admiral Yamamoto, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve” may be a message from history that the Progressive movement, led by President Obama, should have listened to.

While President Bush left office with a very low approval rating, primarily driven by an MSM feeding frenzy, his popularity appears to be rebounding quite well after leaving office. A recent Gallup poll shows Obama’s popularity at 52 percent, and George Bush at 45 percent. During Obama’s time in office, his overall popularity has fallen 20 percent, Bush’s has risen by 10. Quite a significant turn around, given Bush finds it necessary to swim against the tide of the MSM, while Obama has them washing his feet. Against all odds, and a very vocal minority, Bush’s star is rising as Obama’s falls.

Also significant :

A prominent Democratic pollster is circulating a survey that shows George W. Bush is 6 points more popular than President Obama in “Frontline” districts — seats held by Democrats that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sees as most vulnerable to Republican takeover. That Bush is more popular than Obama in Democratic-held seats is cause for outright fear.

HotlineOnCall

To what would we attribute these turnovers in presidential popularity ? It would appear the sleeping giant is awakening in response to Obama’s full frontal assault assault against America.

We have all seen the “Do You Miss Me Yet ?” posters. It would also seem that America’s answer is quickly becoming ‘Hell, Yes!’.

With the way the country is, and the way Lincoln trampled the constitution (even call these united states “a nation” instead of looking at this as a union of independent states) we need not a right of cessation, but a right to expel. I’d like to put on the list Maryland, Mass., California (at least the southern part), New Jersey, Delaware, Illinois, Michigan and a hand-full of New England states.

Corruption.  Lying. Perks. Power. Prestige. Favors.  Graft.  These terms and many others seem to be the criteria for political office over the last hundred years.  It seems to have culminated in what we have in power today and I dread thinking about how far it can go-inclusive of government power over all, which equals slavery of its citizens, plain and simple.  I believe the first step to stave this off is to revise the criteria in the Constitution for holding office and this is how I would do it.

I would make it law that all candidates for state and federal elected offices must have a complete and working knowledge of the Constitution and its Bill of Rights.  This would be done by administering a test on the Constitution to all prospective candidates with the following parameters:

–testing done at a government SCIF (Sensitive Compartment Information Facility).  This could be set up at the capitol of each state.  The test would be delivered over a monitor screen where no sound is necessary.  The test would be timed and random scenarios would be given covering many different aspects of the Constitution.  The test answers would be written down then sealed in an envelope for delivery to a board.  The test would be open book for the Constitution and Bill of Rights.  NO Supreme Court rulings would be allowed in the answers.  We are looking for the basic and true understanding inclusive of the Blackstone treaties (not allowed for testing) as well as the federal papers (also not allowed during testing).  You want to pass then you better bone up and know your stuff.  The tests are randomly generated and a candidate is given a special ID number so that the board does not know the applicant’s identity.

–a board of constitutional scholars (3) nominated by their community.  All constitutional scholars would be solicited to pick 3 members to rule on this board.  The board would grade the candidates’ tests as well as review bills BEFORE they could become law.

–all candidates would pay $500 to take tests which would cover costs for the testing facilities as well as pay for personnel involved administering tests and scholars grading them.

–tests are final.  If you fail, you cannot run for political office at the state or federal levels for the next 4 years nor can you hold any post in an administration at those levels.  You may be retained as an advisor but the person you are advising will be ultimately held accountable for your lack of knowledge.

–any candidate that then holds office and authors or supports a bill, that will be pre-scrutinized by above said board of scholars, that does not pass muster, will be ousted immediately from office – barred from holding an elected seat ever again.  The runner up in that person’s election will automatically take over that seat until the next election.  All contested results of bill scrutiny from the board may be submitted to the Supreme Court for final determination.  The elected official may retain office during that time but cannot author, support or vote on any bills until final determination.

There is much more that could be fine tuned in this.  They always say that marriage is made easy and divorce hard.  It should be the other way around.  Just like holding political office, you must really want it and show that you can handle it.  If it were easy then anyone could do it – even community organizers.  Make it difficult and weed out the weak and you start getting a pool of candidates that may start acting like civil servants so that, in any case, the citizens win.  “of the people, by the people, for the people…”

Now I want to know how YOU would do it.  Add to what is already here, take things out or come up with your own.  Stay on the topic of candidate criteria and leave out the negative comments.  Fix the problem and be the solution.  You are the “We” in the people.

Did I get your attention?  Do I really mean that?  Well, in some instances I do.  Joe and I were talking and came up with an added approach for this blog.  It appears that although we get many good comments on the issues of the posts, we don’t really resolve anything.  The idea is for YOU to have control and a say that MEANS something.  The idea is a series entitled:

“HOW WOULD YOU DO IT?”

The object is to post on an issue that can be resolved with the input YOU give.  You could post on singular things like how to prevent a BP spill from happening ever again or generalize it like containing environmental catastrophies.  We have some exellent posters here and anyone can continue the series with any issue they feel.  What makes it different is this:  you may agree with the poster completely and you are heard.  You may want to add something which gives you a louder voice.  You may disagree with some parts or totally BUT don’t comment why it’s wrong, rather say you would exclude something to REPLACE it with something else.  Your voice is heard loudly.  I know, not everyone has the rights of posting but EVERYONE has the rights of commenting.  We will post for you on the subjects you desire.  You comment by telling us how you would do things.

The blog will continue with its teeth gnashing-finger biting-in your face liberal points of view to the many sound and intelligent posts here.  This will be different because we DON”T WANT BLAME–WE WANT CONSTRUCTIVE SOLUTIONS.  And I intend to get these posts sent to political bodies of every state and the U.S. so someone can use them.  It just isn’t much fun when you shoot ducks in the barrel all the time.  Instead we want people to have ideas to work things and change things.  These won’t just be solutions for today and now but to prevent problems tomorrow.  That’s the beauty of construtive solutions.

You can put your subject ideas here.  We will use them to post.  I am up to my behind in things but in 3 days I will be able to relax.  I have the priveledge of writing the first in this series and I hope to have it to you by the beginning of next week.  The style is easy.  The concept is sound.  The end results very beneficial.  And every one of YOU has a say on how YOU would do it.

This is a funny combination. Democrats pontificating on a Law they never read. How pathetic is that?

This almost as dumb as thinking there are 57 states.

Greg Letiecq was set up to videotape the Convention but was shut down at request of the Dave Schmidt campaign. Anna Lee told Greg he was forbidden from taping by the rules, and then Fauquier County’s finest stepped in as the enforcers.

So despite whatever we don’t know about him, we know Dave Schmidt has a campaign that fears transparency. Losers.

Glad we are here to vote for Howie Lind. Definitely the good guy in this contest.

UPDATE: good for Greg – he just tried to get the censorship ruling overturned, however meeting chair Tom Rust declined to recognize the majority vote and upheld the censorship.

Wonder what the Dave Schmidt loser campaign has to hide.

UPDATE II: Frank Wolf is giving a wonderful speech, an excellent speech with the theme “America’s best days are ahead” (hey thanks a LOT Dave Schmidt for ensuring there would be no video of this outstanding message!)

Frank is always good but hopefully he will keep it short since this is an uncontested GOP nomination; save your energy for November, Frank.

UPDATE III: 823 total delegates, 309 from Loudoun. Fairfax was next with 200-something. No other jurisdiction was in triple digits.

UPDATE IV: our AG Ken Cuccinelli takes the podium to nominate Howie Lind – very cool. Says Howie “will grow party openly, transparently …” (As opposed to, for instance, the Dave Schmidt approach) “If you want to need a bigger auditorium for your next Convention, vote for Howie Lind.”

Lind: “I want to beat Democrats at every level – I want to beat the dogcatcher.” Nice speech, not exactly electrifying but very good and, hey, he was not afraid to be videotaped.

UPDATE V: After being introduced by five people, Dave Schmidt comes out from behind the bush he was cowering under and, unthreatened by recording devices, boldly states: “we are here to retire Harry Reid and fire Nancy Pelosi.” Incisive, and also original. No wonder he was afraid to be videotaped because someone might have pilfered that gem.

UDATE VI: there is some controversy about the availability of pencils, and now Jim Rich is demanding everyone be quiet so he can fully discuss the notion of folding the ballots, which point he has just made for the third time. Good job, Jim. Maybe this was what they were afraid of having videotaped.

Ok, voting has begun. I am guessing we won’t stay for the results. One can only ask one’s spouse to sacrifice so much on a weekend after a busy week. But who knows, maybe this has been a revivifying experience for her.

UPDATE VII: we have just been informed that instead of a simple box or circle to fill in, the ballot has “an uncompleted arrow” which must be completed to point at one’s desired candidate. This is interesting and, in two words, incredibly stupid.
Could we possibly do more to confuse people and muck up the voting process? I mean, this is the kind of idiocy that makes you say Wow.

UPDATE VIII: I have been informed we will be staying for the results, so stay tuned.

UPDATE IX: Greg just informed us it was Jim Rich who sicced the Sheriff on him to shut down the videotaping. Tom Rust upheld it. What a couple of tools.

UPDATE X: and the new 10th District Republican Chair is Howie Lind, nominated by acclamation.

And they all lived happily ever after.

LAST UPDATE: Someone just sent me a message saying that in their opinion Dave Schmidt would not have had it in him to censor coverage of the Convention, but that more likely the outrageous prohibition on recording was just Jim Rich “being an ass.” Around where I was sitting it certainly looked like the Schmidt people supported suppressing the recording, and the Lind people were in favor of transparency. Anyway, it worked out for the best, Jim Rich is gone and repudiated, and the 10th District is now managed by the folks who are not afraid. Good result.

CORRECTION? My posts here were written in real time throughout today’s Convention and reflect my perception of the videotape controversy as it unfolded. Greg Letiecq just noted the following in the comments.

One thing I want to make clear — I have no evidence that Dave Schmidt had anything to do with this, and based on my previous interactions with him I would be very surprised if he was. Dave has always been an upstanding guy with me, and I have and will always maintain the highest respect for his skills, demeanor and judgment. I do not believe he deserves criticism here.

Instead, Jim Rich was well aware of my criticism of his behavior and I have no doubt that he and those who allied themselves with him are solely responsible for this. My big question is why Tom Rust, someone who I’ve always held in high regard, chose to act the way he did today in making a bizarre decision, refusing to allow discussion about that decision, and ultimately ruling that a vote he clearly lost was won by him. When Republicans fail to adhere to the principles they publicly espouse it’s time we cleaned house a bit before Democrats inevitably would do that housecleaning for us. If Tom Rust is this so ethically malleable by someone of vanishing political power as Jim Rich, it begs the question whether he really is the best candidate to serve the residents of the district that he currently represents.

Don’t focus on Dave Schmidt. By all appearances he is an honorable man. Instead, your questions should be directed to Tom Rust, and alternately to some pretty sharp people I know in the area who would do a tremendous job of representing the District Rust currently serves.

So while to me the controversy made Dave look like a loser, in reality it was the people who appeared to be his allies not doing him any favors. Apologies to Dave Schmidt for the caustic comments above if he indeed had no hand in trying to suppress the video recording.

Jim Rich just weighed in at TC to explain the decision to shut down the videographers. I recommend reading his argument. I think the reasoning is overly paranoid – not solely on Jim Rich’s part apparently but as Committee policy – and I don’t know if it is going to convince anyone outside the Committee. But I have to respect Jim Rich for stating his case in a timely manner here in the blogosphere.

Where is the outrage from the ACLU? When someone’s first amendment rights are trampled, and they are terminated from a position because of their speech, you would think the ACLU would be all over it. Not so if the expression is politically incorrect. Regardless of what Mr. Katz stated, he was chosen because he is one of the best in that field for control of the old spill. The arguments against him were that he expressed ideas that were controversial on topics unrelated to the oil spill.

From the Washington Times article:

“[Energy secretary] Dr. Chu has spoken with dozens of scientists and engineers as part of his work to help find solutions to stop the oil spill,” a statement from the Energy Department said. “Some of Professor Katz’s controversial writings have become a distraction from the critical work of addressing the oil spill. Professor Katz will no longer be involved in the Department’s efforts.”

So the professor’s writings are a distraction? Tell those that are distracted to either get on task or go home. If Professor Katz is doing his job, those that are bringing this up should be reminded that free speech is not just “comfortable” speech … free speech is speech that goes against what is accepted and “correct”. Professor Katz has been wronged.

I recently heard a rumor some folks in Loudoun County are intending to field a full slate of “Tea Party” candidates in the 2011 elections, to run as a third party.

I hope at least part of the rumor is wrong, and that whichever “Tea Party” group is doing this is planning to propose excellent candidates to challenge within the Republican Party, because Tea Party as third party is jackassery of the highest order.

Tea Party as third party is actually “D Party” – as in, being in the business of getting Democrats elected.

The only way a third party makes any sense is under the assumption the Democrat candidates will take less than 20% of the vote, leaving the Tea Party and Republican Party candidates to fight for the remaining 80% of the vote. In that scenario, yes, let the best candidate win. But in reality, it is much more likely the Democrat candidates will be able to garner at least 40% of the vote, which would make them victors. I think at this point it might be true that 40% of voters are now collecting checks from the government, either as employees or through entitlements.

We don’t need a third party in Loudoun County. The Democrats are the only ones who need that.

Changing internet services and I’m glad you all waited for me to do this post which really tickles my fancy.  After straying from the conservative Col. West going for congress but ending in another discussion on racism, I can only imagine where this one goes (not hard to figure out, though.)

People are saying Gov. McDonnell had a “macaca” moment when he showed enough guts not to be politically correct and make April Confederate History month.  Many heroes and kin to those radical revolutionaries that started this country fought on both sides-mainly on the correct side (the South for you boneheads) because Virginia seemed to be the garden that sprouted the esteemed gentleman of old.  Virginia has a rich heritage of doing the right thing, which they did for the Civil War-fight to preserve state’s rights.  You might recall that it took many years for some states to ratify the Bill Of Rights because the states didn’t trust a central government and wanted conditions that were binding on that central government.  The government would do only what was agreed upon on and the states had control of the rest.  Lincoln didn’t see it that way when he decided to use the military to invade member states to keep them from “rebelling”.  Doesn’t the Constitution give the states and citizens that right?  The Virginia flag has it as a motto; “Thus always to Tyrants”.  Seems that that has been forgotten also.

Don’t want to hear about slavery.  Gov. McDonnell should never have had to apologize or add statement to slavery.  That’s Yankee history.  Most southerners never owned slaves and too many never even SAW slaves.  A Southerner only knew that he was fighting for state’s rights.  Northern generals fought NOT for the slaves but to preserve the Union.  Lincoln used the slave issue as a tool but only freed slaves in the South, of which he had no control.  Those states that stayed in the Union or were bribed to do so got to keep their slaves.  Yankees wanted freed slaves but if freed, had laws inacted to preclude said freed slaves from coming to their states.  Yankees didn’t like the rich plantations and wanted some type of control.  Us Southerners have a saying- “I don’t care how you did it up north”.  Meddlesum bunch they are.

There are too many Confederate ancestors that have been constantly demeaned to feel ashamed of their past.  Political correctness have kept many from honoring those brave souls that tried to stop a tyrannical government as their fore-fathers had done.  I have and always will fly the flag and honor the dead of the Confederacy as they deserve no less.  They were Americans also.  As I honor all Americans that have died in war for just cause.  We need to bring back Confederate history so that the truth can once again be told.  We are losing our history when special interest groups have it suppressed for foolish reasons.  IT IS HISTORY and that cannot be changed or ignored.  All I can say is that I am American by birth but Southern by the grace of GOD!  Amen.

This is great stuff. Colonel West would have my vote if I lived in Florida. I have sent a check. We need more speeches like this. We need more candidates like this. The milquetoasts in the party need to get a spine and kick it up a notch, or get the hell out of the way.

Conservatives have nothing to be ashamed about. America was founded on the ideal that a man left to his own devices will in the pursuit of his own interests create prosperity. This is an ideal that is worth fighting for. This is an ideal that once lost is very hard to regain. The culture of dependence is another word for servitude. People have been taught that they need to be taken care of. That is the antithesis of being free.

What is wrong with this picture ….

This guy acts more like a big government Democrat than a conservative Republican. Why in the world is he still running the party?

If the party means nothing at the core in terms of what values and principles it stands for, then it might as well be the Democratic party.

Those that think winning elections is more important than anything else, join the Democrats (though I think this time around, they will loose).

by Brian Withnell

History shows that when a significant percentage of a population is enraged with the government, the government fails. Mostly through some kind of revolution; sometimes through despotism, sometimes through a popular uprising. That percentage historically has always been less than 30% (find any country in which 30% of the population is angry about the government in which the government has remained … I don’t think it possible). Right now, there is a large percentage of people in this country that are enraged with what congress has done. It may be that the change of government will be peaceful … we do have an election in November coming. But knowing how polarized the country has become I’m not confident we can continue in a peaceful exchange of power any more.

The present government came about because of liberals being enraged over Republican policies (not what I would call conservative policies, but what Bush I and Bush II did). There were a high percentage of people angry about government then. Now there is a similar percentage of people angry about the government. In a very real sense, there is little ability for the country to cut a “middle ground” as the polarization becomes more and more complete.

The fundamental issue that presses is the proper role of government. If one group hears “We are from the government; we’re here to help” as a curse, and the other hears the same words as a blessing, there is little way to have reconciliation and compromise that will satisfy either group. Those that see government take over of everything as a curse will be upset by a government that imposes itself in more and more of life. Those that see government take over of everything as the only way to be “fair” will by upset unless government does take control. Even a middle ground is excluded, both side will dislike it.

My hope is many people see the problem, and realize this could be the end of the republic.

The time to remember is November…both 2010 and 2012…. Let us hope that we can pass through one more change (in both congress and executive branches) and that the people will remember how they were betrayed by those they elected.

[PLEASE SEE THE UPDATE BELOW, AND BASICALLY IGNORE THIS POST EXCEPT FOR THE WORDS ABOUT EUGENE. THE "POLL" IN QUESTION IS ACTUALLY A JOKE.]

Friends, if you have a conservative ligament in your body, if you have even a mild appreciation for theatrics, if your sense of irony is strong and your skepticism regarding the press is healthy, I encourage you to go over to the Loudoun Independent newspaper Web site right now and vote for Stevens Miller as the Loudoun County Supervisor you would most like to see removed from office.

It is in the right hand column, so please go over there and vote for Stevens Miller right now.

You do not need to be a resident of any particular area, you just need to be reading this blog to be eligible to vote. SO PLEASE GO VOTE.

If you are a conservative anywhere between time and Timbuktu – and I mean YOU Jack in Annandale and YOU Stacy McCain in Frederick and YOU all you NVTH readers – go over there and vote for Stevens Miller. As a personal favor to me.

Thank you.

By way of background, Eugene Delgaudio is the foremost conservative on the Loudoun board, and Stevens Miller is the foremost liberal. I have no idea what is the genesis of this mini-circus, but I suspect the fact it has boiled down to a face off between Stevens Miller and Eugene Delgaudio is evidence that those who are obsessed with our esteemed Sterling Supervisor Delgaudio have gotten the only remaining county-wide newspaper to latch on to the controversy. Our friends at Equality Loudoun, who appear to be increasingly steeped in their obsession with Mr. Delgaudio, may be instigators. I do not know. But what I do know is Eugene Delgaudio is a national treasure who deserves our support. Why? To paraphrase what Dennis Miller said about Sarah Palin, Eugene “pisses off all the right people.” For that reason alone, we should all go vote for Stevens Miller.

– Joe

UPDATE: As Dan pointed out, that “poll” at Loudoun Independent is actually a crock of shit because someone is using a script to vote. Almost 4000 “votes” have been registered since yesterday evening. So while I still encourage you do do whatever you can to support Eugene Delgaudio, I am going to rescind the above plea and tell you instead to ignore that poll and any other poll of substance at the Independent until they get an IT person who knows what they are doing. And to the genius who wrote that script to support Stevens Miller: Nice going, Champ. You have simultaneously delegitimized the poll and outed the Stevens Miller camp as the ballot-stuffers.

by jacob

The Democrat party is a criminal enterprise masquerading as a political party. These people will do anything to win. The founders had it ever so correct, “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” Wake up America.

Call a blue dog Democrat. Call a republican who has been silent on this issue. Voting no is not enough. There will be a rally tomorrow at noon in DC. Be there.

An open letter to congress

We won’t forget it.

Regardless of what you might want to think, or hope, the people of this country are not as stupid as you might want to think. Sure, they are gullible at times, but they won’t easily forget what you do if the entire country has spoken. Remember Scott Brown. If you don’t, you too will find out what it is like having those whom you would have vote one way (for you) vote another way. Polish up your resume, or vote against the health care bill.

Brian Withnell

(Sorry about not signing it before, I forgot that the new software does auto sign.)